Rug cushions



F. J. STEPHENS ETAL 2,957,780

Oct. 25, 1960 RUG CUSHIONS Filed Feb. 25, 1957 s N E H P 5 r 1 t M R mm m r CARL M. SMITH ERNEST E. CRANE RUG CUSHIONSIV Frederick J. Stephens, Mullholland ontario, Carl M;

Smith, Toronto, Ontario, and Ernest E. .Crane, Willowdale, Ontario, Canada, assignors to Smith Manufacturing Company Limited, Weston; Ontario, Canada Filed Feb. 25, 1957, Ser. No. 641,945

8 Claims. (Cl. 117-10) This invention relates to rug cushions. and amethod, of making same.

In the past, rug cushions of felt have been employed as an underlay on the floor below iioor rugs. More recently, rug cushions of sponge rubber have been created and employed to some extent. Felt rug cushions have been more extensively used because of the lower cost as compared to rubber, its greater strength, and because it does not age as is the case with rubber and therefore has a much longer life Hair felt rug cushions have excellent sound deadening qualities and reasonable resistance to compression but are not as resilient as rubber and in some cases have a tendency to creep to some degree. Moreover, though very practical, felt rug cushions are usually somewhat drab in appearance since they do not lend to an even colour dyeing and, therefore, are usually produced in natural drab colour It is a main object of the present invention to provide an improved rug cushion which will have general advantages of the conventional hair felt under cushion as well as the more recent rubber cushion while eliminating any disadvantages which arise in respect to both.

The present invention, therefore, provides a rug cushion which may be produced economically as compared to the higher cost rubber cushion yet it has the advantages of the latter including a desirable degree of resilience, as well as having non-slip characteristics. Moreover, it provides the advantages of long life, lightness and easy handling, production in attractive colour, together with substantial dimensional stability.

According to the invention, the rug cushion generally comprises a mat formed preferably from conventional needled felt impregnated throughout with a binder capable of forming with the mat a substantially unitary porous body of bonded fibers having resilient characteristics, at least one surface of said body being embossed to form over said surface a pattern of protuberances to enhance the resilient characteristics of said mat. Preferably the surfaces of said mat are coated with an elastomeric binder to form a surface layer of greater density. The invention also embraces the method of producing the rug cushion.

The invention will be clearly understood by reference to the following detailed specification taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

Fig. l is a fragmentary perspective view of'the rug cushion according to the present invention to illustrate its general overall characteristics.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary section taken through the rug cushion further to illustrate its characteristics; and

Fig. 3 is a small sectional detail showing a rug cushion embossed on both sides.

Referring to the drawings, A indicates a rug cushion generally as a Whole which constitutes a felt mat of suitablethickness for the purpose in question. Preferably the felt mat employed is a conventional needled felt wherein a suitable blend of vegetable, animal or synthetic fibers are needle-loomed to' a hessian, burlap or other fabric core; In some cases, however, the fibers may be needle-loomed without any core.

According to the method, the. mat is impregnated by immersion or other suitable means with a binder capable of modifying it to create a unitary porous body of bonded fibers having resilient characteristics, the binder preferably being elastomeric in character. In this instance, the mat is preferably submerged in a bath for this purpose whereupon it is passed between pressure rolls to squeeze it and expel therefrom excess liquid, thus to provide for a light coating of the fibers when dried and which lends to the resilience of the resulting product. Preferably, the surfaces of the mat are then coated,

preferably by spraying, with an elastomeric binder.

In the next operation, the wet felt is passed between heated rolls, one of which is an engraved roll or both of which are engraved rolls, which function partially to dry the impregnated mat and which will emboss on one surface at least or on both surfaces a pattern producing a plurality of spaced protuberances occurring over the complete surface or surfaces. This not only gives a pleasing appearance to the mat but in creating the protuberances which are readily formed by the rolls as a result of the impregnation of the mat, the resilient characteristics of, the mat are increased to a substantial degree.

The felt is then passed through a drier, such as a hot air drier, to cure the treated product and produce in result an improved mat of fibrous base in the form of a substantially unitary porous body of bonded fibers having resilient characteristics and a surface layer on one side or both sides of greater density.

The impregnation of the mat and in particular the final spraying of the surface or surfaces thereof has the result not only of improving the resilience of the rug in combination with the embossing thereof, but binds the fibers so as to produce a stable porous body capable of breathing as compared to the lack of this desirable characteristic in rubber rug cushions.

To improve the appearance of the final product it is preferable to incorporate a dye to give it a pleasing appearance. Normally dyeing of felt rugs is difficult since an uneven dyeing impregnation results. 'In the present method we have found that by incorporating a dye or a high percentage of colouring ingredients in the spraying formula, a relatively uniform colouring results from the spraying operation. Thus, in addition to the other advantages achieved, a rug cushion of pleasing uniform colour tone is achieved.

The impregnation of the heat may be effected with various binder compositions, some examples of which are as follows:

Example 1 Parts GRS Type IV latex 50% solids Curing agent dispersion such as sulphur with zinc diethyl dithiocarbamate, or zinc mercaptobenzo- 3 Example 2 Parts Polyvinyl chloride latex 50% solids 100 Plasticizer emulsion (40%) such as dioctyl phthalate dicapryl phthalate or tricresyl phosphate 35 Wetting agent such as alkyl aryl sulfonate, or sodium alkyl sulfonate 1.

Colour dispersion such as phthalocyanine green.

(30%) Water 200.

Various coating compounds may be employed, examples of which are as follows:

Example 1 Parts GRS Type IV latex 50% solids 100 High styrene-butadiene latex 50% solids 25 Wetting agent such as alkyl aryl sulfonate or sodium alkylsulfonate 1 Curing agent dispersion such as sulphur with zinc diethyl dithiocarbamate, or zinc mercaptobenzo- The resulting product can be appreciated by further reference to the drawings, wherein the processed rug cushion has an impregnated body 10 which is less dense than the surface layer 11 as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, or layers 12 and 13 as shown in Fig. 3, by reason of the fact that the surface layer 11 orsurface layers 12 and 13 have, in addition to the general impregnation of the whole mat, an impregnating surface coating. The surface is formed into the plurality of spaced protuberances 14 by means of the engraved rolls as described during the wet condition of the preliminarily impregnated mat and the heat applied in this operation so that a degree of resiliency is imparted in addition to the resiliency stemming from the impregnated but less dense body.

It is obvious in result that we achieve a rug cushion which is comparable with the good qualities of a sponge rubber cushion which eliminates the undesirable qualities of the latter and provides other advantages. This felt base cushion is comparatively soft and desirably resilient, yet it does not have the undesirable bounce of a sponge rubber rug cushion. Moreover, it is porous and consequently will breathe, which is not the case in a sponge rubber cushion, while it will not age like the latter. In addition, it has the characteristic of absorption and will minimize damage to an overlying rug when liquids are accidentally spilled thereon, and it produces a rug cushion having more strength and substantially greater resistance to tearing than a sponge rubber cushion. Finally, it is lighter and more easily handled than a sponge rubber rug cushion.

What we claim as our invention is:

1. The method of making a rug cushion from a conventional needle loom felt mat which comprises impregnating said mat throughout with a binder capable of forming a substantially porous body of bonded fibers having resilient characteristics, and coating the fibers on at least one surface layer of said mat with an elastomeric binder, the amount of the elastomeric binder employed being insuflicient to destroy the porosity of the impregnated mat.

2. The method of making a rug cushion as claimed in claim 1 including the step of embossing said coated surface of said mat with a pattern of spaced protuberances while said mat is moist to increase its resilient character and drying said mat.

3-. The method of making a rug cushion as claimed in claim 2 in which the fibers on both surface layers of said mat are coated and embossedas aforesaid.

4. The method of making a rug cushion as claimed in claim 2 in which said mat is cured following embossing.

5. The method of making a rug cushion as claimed in claim 3 in which said mat is impregnated as aforesaid by immersion, said immersion being sufficient to saturate said mat throughout, squeezing the thus impregnated mat until only a light coating of said binder remains upon said fibers, said binder remaining in quantity sufficient to enhance the resilience of said mat Without substantially detracting from the porosity thereof.

6. The method of making a rug cushion as claimed inclaim 4 in which said mat is impregnated as aforesaid by immersion, said immersion being sufficient to saturate said mat throughout, squeezing the thus impregnated mat until only a light coating of said binder remains upon said fibers, said binder remaining in quantity sufficient to enhance the resilience of said mat without substantiallydetracting from the porosity thereof, and in which said coating on said surface layers of said mat is applied by spraying.

7. A rug cushion comprising in combination a porous needle felt mat, an elastomeric binder coating the fibers of said mat uniformly throughout, said binder being disposed upon said fibers in a quantity suificient to enhance the resiliency of said mat without substantially detracting from the porosity thereof, a porous coating of elastomeric binder on the fibers of at least one surface of said mat,

said coated surface being embossed into a pattern, said coating retaining said pattern and being disposed on said fibers in a quantity sufficient to so maintain said pattern,

but insufficient to substantially detract from the porosity of said surface.

8. A rug cushion as claimed in claim 7 in which the fibers of both surfaces of said mat have a coating of elastomeric binder and are embossed as aforesaid.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,097,417 Neiley Oct. 26, 1937 2,292,118 Guhl Aug. 4, 1942 2,314,162 Reinhardt Mar. 16, 1943 2,327,573 Walsh Aug. 24, 1943 2,550,465 Gorski Apr. 24, 1951 2,585,108 Gordon Feb. 12, 1952 2,585,109 Gordon Feb. 12, 1952 2,669,527 Horwich Feb. 16, 1954 2,746,894 Orser et al May 22, 1956 2,803,577 Colt et al Aug. 20, 1957 

1. THE METHOD OF MAKING A RUG CUSHION FROM A CONVENTIONAL NEEDLE LOOM FELT MAT WHICH COMPRISES IMPREGNATING SAID MAT THROUGHOUT WITH A BINDER CAPABLE OF FORMING A SUBSTANITALLY POROUS BODY OF BONDED FIBERS HAVING RESILIENT CHARACTERISTICS, AND COATING THE FIBERS ON AT LEAST ONE SURFACE LAYER OF SAID MAT WITH AN ELASTOMERIC BINDER, THE AMOUNT OF THE ELASTOMERIC BINDER EMPLOYED BEING INSUFFICIENT TO DESTROY THE POROSITY OF THE IMPREGNATED MAT.
 2. THE METHOD OF MAKING A RUG CUSHION AS CLAIMED IN CLAIM 1 INCLUDING THE STEP OF EMBOSSING SAID COATED SURFACE OF SAID MAT WITH A PATTERN OF SPACED PROTUBERANCES WHILE SAID MAT IS MOIST TO INCREASE ITS RESILIENT CHARACTER AND DRYING SAID MAT. 